Samsung Tizen prototype hands-on

Tizen did have a presence at the MWC as promised, but that was in the form of the new Galaxy Gear watches. The only Tizen-running phone we saw was a prototype device that looks a lot like a Galaxy S4. Samsung made it clear it's not an S4 and is for development purposes only, it won't be selling it.

Never mind the actual device, this is our first look of Tizen OS on a phone (odd, considering the OS is on version 3.0 already). The interface looks very much like Samsung's latest iteration of TouchWiz running on Android 4.4 KitKat, but simplified. We found it very comfortable to use.

There are some differences - for example, widgets on the homescreen feel more like Windows Phone live tiles than Android widgets. Also, the homescreen itself has two modes - Basic and Office. Both options have two separate sets of homescreen panes for good work/personal life separation.

Tizen feels similar to TouchWizzified Android • Basic and Office home screens

Some familiar TouchWiz features like the floating mini apps are available here too. There are widgets on the homescreen, but they felt more like live tiles than Android widgets. Most of them were 1x1 though, bigger widgets were rare.

Mini apps

As for the device Tizen was running on, it's clear the hardware was based on the Galaxy S4. Unfortunately for Bada fans, or is it Maemo and MeeGo fans (those branches merged to form Tizen), Samsung won't be selling this device. There are no official plans to sell any Tizen phone yet.